tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post1582115902189614036..comments2024-03-15T07:28:47.064-05:00Comments on Treknobabble: The Next Generation, Season 5: The Masterpiece SocietyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-38525003104739789812016-03-19T18:18:22.750-05:002016-03-19T18:18:22.750-05:00I understand. They didn't make them out to be ...I understand. They didn't make them out to be monsters or anything. However, there is this negative undertone accompanying all GE - not just in this episode but all throughout Trek - with variation. poppyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09064123327462038174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-3047488021359151222016-03-04T14:29:20.872-06:002016-03-04T14:29:20.872-06:00I agree that the "pro" side was given so...I agree that the "pro" side was given somewhat short shrift here. Though, with that said, this is the most benign portrayal of genetic engineering in Trek - no remorseless killers on Moab IV. Really, the main thrust of the "con" argument was simply Picard's distaste.matthewweflenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-57919252247643200372016-02-24T00:44:53.142-06:002016-02-24T00:44:53.142-06:00Urgh. I am really tired of all this doom and gloom...Urgh. I am really tired of all this doom and gloom bullshit talk and fears about how machines and genetic engineering and cloning etc will take over one day and turn us into some kind of a Terminator-like dystopia putting an end to our beautiful humanity blah blah blah. It is talk like that and the culture of fear that such talk has created, that has put a halt to meaningful genetic research and ultimately finding cures for countless horrific diseases. All these laws governing stem cell research, (human) cloning and even GMOs, the latter of which is opposed by the same idiots who oppose vaccination, have been nothing but an impediment to progress. <br /><br />Star Trek is littered with this negative attitude toward genetic engineering and the - unfounded if I may dare say so - assumptions about the alleged perils and liabilities associated with genetically modified organisms. <br /><br />From TOS to ENT - across the board, genetic engineering is depicted in this negative light. From the Eugenics wars and Khan and his army of augments creating havoc and wars, to DS9 where we were given this lecture about the alleged horrible consequences of genetically engineered humans on Federation societies - to the point where genetically altering humans was outlawed and a father who had his mentally incapacitated child genetically altered, had to go to jail for it, we have seen it happen. <br /><br />And we saw it in Enterprise, too, with the augments who were these brilliant, yet ruthless killer machines seeking world domination and thinking they are better. <br /><br />I mean, wtf? Who said it had to be this way? <br /><br />A lot of the things we see depicted in this episode about GE are projections of our own fears of what might happen. And other than unfounded paranoia governing these fear, there is very little based in actual facts. The people here are shown to be rigid, unable to adapt or survive or even learn and grow beyond their "programming" if you so will and the whole time I kept wondering" why?" What basis do we have to assume that genetically engineered people will be like that? <br /><br />Why cant someone who has been modified to be a brilliant scientist or musician not also be anything else? Or capable to adapt and adjust? Who said that genetically changing someone had to result in them being stagnant and fragile? <br /><br />Why should said kid from the above mentioned comment be a passionless automaton whose humanity and passion is lost after his genes were altered to play the piano better? <br /><br />I guess what im trying to say is that a lot of the fears people associate with GE are unfounded and, to some extent, fueled by superstition almost and doomsday scenarios as depicted in pop culture and movies in general. <br /><br />Like the whole disabilities part with Gordi: he is blind and we should accommodate people with disabilities, but come on, are you telling me that if we had a chance to remove a gene for, say, blindness, deafness, or any other handicap or disease, we wouldn't and we shouldn't? <br /><br />We put up with disability cause, quite frankly, we got no other choice. But it is not desirable. No parent ever thinks "oh gee, I so want a disabled child, it will make him that much more interesting." <br /><br />Yes, with every technology comes the potential for abuse. But so what? We cannot sit tight and red tape GE into inertia and essentially do nothing, not move forward, not advance, out of fear that what we find may potentially land in the wrong hands and lead to our demise. That is such nonsense and it really upsets me that Star Trek, which is otherwise so enlightened, has fallen for the anti GE propaganda. poppyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09064123327462038174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-28397894062429365312013-12-02T22:24:29.290-06:002013-12-02T22:24:29.290-06:00I think this is a nice insight. I could see it bot...I think this is a nice insight. I could see it both ways, but I kind of like the gloss you've put on it.matthewweflenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-72756114152444851902013-08-28T01:42:11.953-05:002013-08-28T01:42:11.953-05:00The piano sonata was a bit slow and tired, but I t...The piano sonata was a bit slow and tired, but I thought it was artistically poignant it was a slow and fairly emotionless performance of a very emotional piece being performed by someone presumably bred to be a "perfect" musician. <br /><br />Maybe I'm giving too much credit to that scene and it was just a crummy uninspired piano recital by some kid that they filmed, but it's what I took away from it, kind of showing the limits of the society that wouldn't know the desperate emotions associated with a romantic piano piece.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-32690133794345498372011-11-14T12:27:42.130-06:002011-11-14T12:27:42.130-06:00I get what you're saying about the delicate ba...I get what you're saying about the delicate balance of a Bioshpere-type set-up, but the idea there is to test the long-term viability of a truly isolated setting with no outside help. That's not quite the case here. A small, temporary imbalance caused by moving the building lock, stock, and barrel can be offset by the functionally limitless resources of the Enterprise. There's "delicate equilibrium," then there's "no coping skills." Maybe had they played up the culture angle a little harder, more like the Native Americans on Dorvan V in "Journey's End," where the bond is a psychological one, where even knowing intellectually that they are somewhere else is too traumatizing to contemplate, regardless of the physical similarities of their new arrangement. <br /><br />Their need to keep everything in perfect stasis just didn't read as credible or interesting as it should have. They're all "We can't move. This is the only place in the universe we can exist." And I'd be like "Dude, you live in a post-industrial mall's food court. It'll be okay. We'll build you a new one just like it. We're the Federation. It's what we do."Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05582237401541322274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-21360954901728292562011-11-14T11:52:26.105-06:002011-11-14T11:52:26.105-06:00This makes me feel old, but I actually visited Bio...This makes me feel old, but I actually visited Biosphere 2 while it was still active, but I'm pretty sure no one was sealed in at the time. Based on my search of Wikipedia, it looks like I was probably there during a transition period, right before a set of scientists was closed in. I have a lot of logistical problems with this episode, but it's interesting and thought-provoking.Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08447483088054283298noreply@blogger.com